Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption

      Paulo Coelho
     Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption

Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything -- youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life. So, one cold November morning, she takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. But she does -- at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live. Inspired by events in Coelho's own life, *Veronika Decides to Die* questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.

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    Sisters in Sanity

      Gayle Forman
     Sisters in Sanity

Have you ever had the out-of-control dream? The one where you know you're not crazy, but no one around you--not your parents, not your teachers, not even the authorities--will listen to you? For sixteen-year-old Brit Hemphill, the out-of-control dream comes true when her dad enrolls her at Red Rock, a bogus treatment center that claims to cure rebellious teen girls. At Red Rock, Brit is forced into therapy, and her only hope of getting her life back is in the hands of an underqualified staff of counselors. Brit's dad thinks Red Rock can save her, but the truth is it's doing more harm than good. No girl could survive Red Rock alone--but at a treatment center where you earn privileges for ratting out your peers, it's hard to know who you can trust. For Brit, everything changes when she meets V, Bebe, Martha, and Cassie, four girls who keep her from going over the edge. Together they'll hold on to their sanity and their sisterhood while trying to keep their Red Rock reality from becoming a full-on nightmare.

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    Every Year: Short Stories

      Cecelia Ahern
     Every Year: Short Stories

A wonderful collection of Cecelia’s short stories As the smell of pinecones and cinnamon fill the air and the plump turkey roasts in the oven, the final preparations for Christmas day have begun just as they do every year. The tree lights are twinkling and the mince pies are cooked and there is just one final tradition to carry out before the Christmas magic can begin. This year though, something is different and it's time for life-long traditions to change. For years the family has followed the same pattern, not changing their routine through the generations; babies have grown into teens and then adults, and then eventually have had children of their own, but one thing always remained constant throughout… Time has finally caught up with the family and this year the new traditions must be formed.

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    The House Mate

      Kendall Ryan
     The House Mate

What’s sexier than a bad boy? A bad ass man who’s got his shit together. Max Alexander is nearing thirty-five. He’s built a successful company, and he’s conquered the professional world, but he’s never been lucky in love. Focusing so much time on his business and raising his daughter, adulting has come at the expense of his personal life. His social skills are shit, his patience is shot, and at times, his temper runs hot. The last thing he has time for is the recently single, too gorgeous for her own good young woman he hires to take care of his little girl. She’s a distraction he doesn’t need, and besides, there’s no way she’d be interested. But you know what they say about assumptions? This is book 3 in the Roommates series, but each can be read as a complete standalone, as they feature new couples.

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    Dragonwyck

      Anya Seton
     Dragonwyck

First published in 1944, Dragonwyck was a national bestseller that was made into a major motion picture starring Gene Tierney and Vincent Price in 1946. A classic gothic romance, the story features an 18-year-old Miranda Wells who falls under the spell of a mysterious old mansion and its equally fascinating master. Tired of churning butter, weeding the garden patch, and receiving the dull young farmers who seek her hand in marriage, Miranda is excited by an invitation from the upstate New York estate of her distant relative, the intriguing Nicholas Van Ryn. Her passion is kindled by the icy fire of Nicholas, the last of the Van Ryns, and the luxury of Dragonwyck, and a way of life of which she has only dreamed. Dressed in satin and lace, she becomes part of Dragonwyck, with its Gothic towers, flowering gardens, acres of tenant farms, and dark, terrible secrets. This compelling novel paints a marvelous portrait of a country torn between freedom and feudal traditions; a country divided between the very wealthy and the very poor. Poor tenant farmers at Dragonwyck, the European royalty who visit, and American icons such as Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and the Astors are vividly brought to life. This is a heart-stopping story of a remarkable woman, her breathtaking passions, and the mystery and terror that await her in the magnificent hallways of Dragonwyck.

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    That Mad Ache & Translator

      Françoise Sagan
     That Mad Ache & Translator

That Mad Ache, set in high-society Paris in the mid-1960’s, recounts the emotional battle unleashed in the heart of Lucile, a sensitive but rootless young woman who finds herself caught between her carefree, tranquil love for 50-year-old Charles, a gentle, reflective, and well-off businessman, and her sudden wild passion for 30-year-old Antoine, a hot-blooded, impulsive, and struggling editor. As Lucile explores these two versions of love, she vacillates in confusion, but in the end she must choose, and her heart’s instinct is surprising and poignant. Originally published under the title La Chamade, this new translation by Douglas Hofstadter returns a forgotten classic to English. In Translator, Trader, Douglas Hofstadter reflects on his personal act of devotion in rewriting Françoise Sagan’s novel La Chamade in English, and on the paradoxes that constantly plague any literary translator on all scales, ranging from the humblest of commas to entire chapters. Flatly rejecting the common wisdom that translators are inevitably traitors, Hofstadter proposes instead that translators are traders, and that translation, like musical performance, deserves high respect as a creative act. In his view, literary translation is the art of making subtle trades in which one sometimes loses and sometimes gains, often both losing and gaining at the same time. This view implies that there is no reason a translation cannot be as good as the original work, and that the result inevitably bears the stamp of the translator, much as a musical performance inevitably bears the stamp of its artists. Both a companion to the beloved Sagan novel and a singular meditation on translation, Translator, Trader is a witty and intimate exploration of words, ideas, communication, creation, and faithfulness.

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    The House of Broken Angels

      Luis Alberto Urrea
     The House of Broken Angels

The definitive Mexican-American immigrant story, a sprawling and deeply felt portrait of a Mexican-American family occasioned by the impending loss of its patriarch, from one of the country's most beloved authors. Prizewinning and bestselling writer Luis Urrea has written his Mexican coming-to-America story and his masterpiece. Destined to sit alongside other classic immigrant novels, The House of Broken Angels is a sprawling and epic family saga helmed by patriarch Big Angel. The novel gathers together the entire De La Cruz clan, as they meet for the final birthday party Big Angel is throwing for himself, at home in San Diego, as he nears the end of his struggle with cancer and reflects on his long and full life. But when Big Angel's mother, Mama America, approaching one hundred, dies herself as the party nears, he must plan her funeral as well. There will be two family affairs in one weekend: a farewell double-header. Among the attendants is his half-brother and namesake, Little Angel, who comes face to face with the siblings with whom he shared a father but not, as the weekend proceeds to remind him, a life. This story of the De La Cruzes is the story of what it means to be a Mexican in America, to have lived two lives across one border. It is a tale of the ravaging power of death to shore up the bits of life you have forgotten, whether by choice or not. Above all, this finely wrought portrait of a deeply complex family and the America they have come to call home is Urrea at his purest and best. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank.

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    Souls Out of Time

      Chris Lange
     Souls Out of Time

Living in the twenty-first century isn’t always fulfilling, even on a sunny day in Sausalito, California. When Tracy used her father’s newest invention, she jumped across time and worlds. Against all odds, she has found love in 1899 San Francisco. Loyal subject of Queen Victoria, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, duty bound to obey and honor his family, Lord Garrett Burnes doesn’t have the right to marry a simple woman from another era. Because they don’t belong together, the way to 1900 has been sealed. Now, the love of Tracy’s life is a world apart.

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    Playing With Matches

      Brian Katcher
     Playing With Matches

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD LEON SANDERS has a mug that looks like it should be hanging in a post office somewhere. If he didn’t have his twisted sense of humor, he’d have nothing at all. So it’s no wonder to Leon and his friends that the gorgeous Amy Green will never even look twice at him. However, there is one girl who might: Melody Hennon. Everyone at Zumner High keeps their distance from Melody because she was burned in a childhood accident. Leon has avoided her, too, until the day he tells her a bad joke and makes her laugh. Although Leon worries what people will think of him dating Melody, he’s happy to have someone in his life who thinks he’s special. That is, happy until Amy Green asks him out after Leon saves her from getting detention. Will Leon give up a shot with the Beauty so that he can live the fairy tale with the Beast? From the Hardcover edition.

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    Going Nowhere

      Kimberly Lauren
     Going Nowhere

Hard work isn't the only way to get ahead... If success is determined by the number of friends one has, Kate Ryan had better make some quick. After being passed over for yet another partnership at a Miami-based law firm, Kate is just about ready to jump ship. While she works her butt off and gets nowhere, sycophants and suck-ups are quickly climbing the rungs to success. The solution? Get on the same cruise as the man who can grant her the position she desires and make nice. The problem? Her devilishly handsome colleague ends up on the same ship and has a different position in mind altogether. In the end, Kate learns both how to seize her future with dignity and how to fall in love without a safety net.

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    The Moghul

      Thomas Hoover
     The Moghul

Doubleday 1983Reviewers called it the best novel on India since Kipling. An immediate European bestseller, optioned by Indian/German producers who commissioned a six-hour mini-series, then Canadian producers with BBC.Based on real people (ca. 1620) – an English “sea dog” shoots his way through Portuguese gallons and into an Indian port to open trade. Once on land, there’re tiger hunTHE MOGHUL was immediately a European bestseller, optioned by Indian producers who commissioned a six-hour mini-series, then Canadian producers with the BBC.Based on real people (ca. 1620) – THE MOGHUL begins in a rip-roaring sea battle north of Bombay in which the vastly out-gunned adventurer, Brian Hawksworth, ship's captain and emissary of King James, blows away a flotilla of Portuguese galleons to gain access to an Indian port. He's come to open trade for “barbaric” England and squeeze out the Portuguese, who try to kill him at every turn. But once on land, he’s captive: the beauty and romance of the exquisite Moghul Empire seduce him from his material goals to a new quest – of supreme sensuality in music, visions, and sacred lovemaking. India, ruled by the son of great Akbar, is about to pass to one of his sons. Hawksworth must choose sides, but will he choose right? The future of England, and of India, depend on it. Assailed by intrigue and assassination, tormented by a forbidden love, enthralled by a mystic poet, Hawksworth engages war elephants, tiger hunts, the harem of the Red Fort of Agra, the Rajput warriors at Udaipur, becomes intimate champion to Shah Jahan, (builder of the Taj Mahal), and, in his supreme test, plays the sitar with a touch that elicits from the great Shah – “Finally, my English friend – you understand.” ReviewsA SWEEPING ADVENTURE THAT SWEPT THE CRITICS!"IF YOU ENJOYED THE FAR PAVILIONS OR SHO-GUN, YOU SHOULD OBTAIN THOMAS HOOVER'S NEW NOVEL ABOUT INDIA . . . ROBUST . . . ROUS¬ING ... ROLLICKING ADVENTURE . . . JUST ABOUT PERFECT'—Fort Worth Star-Telegram "HIGH ACTION . . . SPRAWLING"—San Diego Union"THOMAS HOOVER CAPTURES THE SOUNDS AND SMELLS AND ATMOSPHERE OF THE TIME, FROM THE MYSTERIESOFTHE HAREM TOTHE BATTLES BETWEEN MASSED ELEPHANTS"—Milwaukee Journal"ROUSING"—Publishers Weekly"GOOD ENTERTAINMENT ... I WOULD NOT HESI¬TATE TO RECOMMEND THE MOGHUL TO ANY¬ONE WHO ENJOYS ROBUST HISTORICAL ADVEN¬TURE AND ROMANCE"— Omaha World-Herald"PLENTY OF ACTION . . . FASCINATING ... A VIV¬IDLY TOLD TALE"-- Wichita Falls TimesTags: Moghul, India, Shah Jahan, British India, Taj Mahal, Portuguese India, India History, Agra, Raj, Seventeenth-Century India

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    C.O.I.L. Extractions: a Christian Short Story Collection

      D.I. Telbat
     C.O.I.L. Extractions: a Christian Short Story Collection

Updated cover! In COIL Extractions, a Collection of Christian Short Stories, Book 1, we find a sampling of D.I. Telbat's Suspenseful Fiction with a Faith Focus. Each adventure or suspense story shows a unique side of service for the Lord, and we are reminded that there is no redemption without sacrifice.Updated cover and bibliography. COIL Extractions is a Christian Short Story Collection, Book 1, and sampling of D.I. Telbat's Christian fiction adventures and suspense. You learn that C.O.I.L., Commission of International Laborers, is an organization formed to rescue persecuted Christians in volatile countries around the world. In each of these stories, we find a unique side of service for the Lord. Included is Bonus Chapter One of bestseller Dark Liaison, a Christian Suspense Novel, Book One in The COIL Series, in which we get a peek at a COIL mission of ex-CIA Agent Corban Dowler as he uses his skills to save at-risk believers. You can now find COIL Recruits for Christ, a Short Story Collection, Book 2. We are reminded that—there is no redemption without sacrifice.

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    How to Dance Naked in the Moonlight

      Lenny Everson
     How to Dance Naked in the Moonlight

22 poems about the ceremony of dancing naked in the moonlight.How to Dance Naked in the Moonlight is a book of maybes. Maybe it contains the key to traveling to a magical and powerful sphere as practiced for millennia by Celtic priestesses. Maybe it is just a cheeky romp in the moonlight by bare-assed bad boys. Maybe it contains the recipe for the exhilaration of stepping out of boundaries into the only freedom we have left: the unadorned experience of self in the lonely moon-lit night. Maybe it will help you see aspects of the brief human journey in ways that will change and transform you. If these verses make you wonder, smile, tearily respond, or long to explore the un-mapped terrain that pulls your blood as the moon does the tides, then the skeptic and the pagan have reaped the moon--- and are satisfied. This cheeky little book manages to combine mysticism and mischief. Great for hearth or moonlight reading!Katherine L. Gordon lives to write in a secluded river valley, where she is free to dance unseen in a midnight moon-lit stone circle, following her Celtic Pagan traditions. Lenny Everson is a country boy currently living in the city. As a result we suspect he’ll eventually be found on some moonlit night running through the suburbs, pursued by the local Esthetics Police.There are 22 poems in this book.

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    Funeral Rites

      Jean Genet
     Funeral Rites

Genet's sensual and brutal portrait of World War II unfolds between the poles of his grief for his lover Jean, killed in the Resistance during the liberation of Paris, and his perverse attraction to the collaborator Riton. Elegaic, macabre, chimerical, Funeral Rites is a dark meditation on the mirror images of love and hate, sex and death.

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